"What the President is proposing is problematic for a couple of reasons, but primarily because it doesn't work..." Rubio said. "These ideas don't work. It's not just Chicago. Washington, DC had a very similar gun ban. And it didn't work. In fact violent crime and murder and all these things skyrocketed in Washington during the time of those bans."

There's only one problem: Obama hasn't proposed gun restrictions that resemble anything like those in Chicago or those that were overturned in Washington DC. It's possible Rubio hadn't actually looked at what the White House proposed before reacting. If so, he wouldn't be the only Republican to make that mistake. Senator Rand Paul (R-Tenn.), speaking to Fox News' Sean Hannity, vowed to "nullify anything the president does that smacks of legislation," adding that "there are several of the executive orders that appear as if he's writing new law. That cannot happen." Paul's staff might want to inform him that Obama signed no executive orders Wednesday. He did sign several presidential memorandums directing relevant agencies to alter their behavior regarding gun tracing, health research, and criminal background checks, in addition to issuing a list of other executive and administrative actions that he will take on guns.